Water Properties

• Extremely high mp and bp:

• High Heat capacity: 18 cal/°C mol vs. 8 cal/°C mol for methane

• High viscosity

• Solid form is less dense than the liquid form at the same temperature (ice floats on water - very rare)

• High dielectric constant (78.5 vs. 1.9 for hexane; 'blocks electric fields')

• High surface tension.

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public domain image via Wikipedia Creative Commons

public domain image via Wikipedia Creative Commons

public domain image via Wikipedia Creative Commons

1. Nitrates (NO₃^-) are all soluble.

2. Alkali metal (Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Cs⁺, and Rb⁺) and ammonium (NH₄⁺) salts are all soluble, with the exception of a few Lithium salts.

3. Chloride, bromide, and iodide (Cl^-, Br^-, and I^-) salts are generally soluble, except for the salts of silver, lead(II) and mercury(I) (Ag⁺, Pb²⁺ and Hg₂²⁺).

4. Sulfates are soluble, except for the salts of barium {BaSO₄}, lead(II) {PbSO₄}, mercury(II) {HgSO₄}, and calcium {CaSO₄}.

5. Most hydroxides are only slightly soluble (but see rule 2).

6. Sulfides (S^2-), carbonates (CO₃^2-), phosphates (PO₄^3-), and chromates (CrO₄^2-) are only slightly soluble (but see rule 2).

© R A Paselk

Last modified 11 February 2009